Apparatus for electrical precipitation of suspended material from gases



Jan. 12,1926. 1,569,597

C. H. WEISKOPF APPARATUS FOR ELECTRICAL PRECIPITATION OF SUSPENDED MATERIAL FROM GASES Filed April 13, 1925 a/ww W ATfORNEY.

Patented Jan. 12,, 1926).

UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICE- CHARLES H. WEISKOPF, OF HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNA- TIONAL PRECIPITATION COMPANY OF LOS AN GELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORA- TION OF CALIFORNIA.

APPARATUS FOR ELECTRICAL PRECIPITATION OF SUSPENDED MATERIAL FROM GASES.

* Application filed April 13. 1925. Serial a... 22,849.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. l/VEIS- KOPF, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hawthorne, county of Los Angeles, State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Electrical Precipitation of Suspended Material from Gases, ofwhich the followingis a specification. i This'invention relates to apparatus for electricalprecipitation of suspended material, such as dust, fume, mist, etc, from gases containing the same and particularly to apparatus for this purpose in which the collecting electrodes are formed of concrete or other cement composition, or similar material of a semi-conducting nature. The main object of the present invention is toprovide for the construction of such collecting electrodesin the form of sections and'at the'same timeprovide for effective supporting and re-enforcin'gfiof such secelectrical potential to'all parts of the electrode. A further object of the invention is to provide re-enforcing means in each electrode section, said re-enforcing means being of such nature'that'when the sections are "assembled, said means co-operate to constitute continuous re-enforcing and electrical distributing means extending throughout the "several sections of each electrode. A furtherobject of. the invention is to provide alternate sections of a collecting electrode of the type above described with re-enforcing and electrical conducting means adapted to engage one anotherupon assembly of the sections in such manner as. to properly aline the sections and to prevent relative horizon- .tal displacement-0f said sectionsvand thus provide effective re-enforcing and supporting means for the entire electrode.

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of my invention, and referring thereto: 1 Fig. 1 is a longltudlnal vertical section through an electrical precipitator embodying my invention and provided with collecting electrodes comprising horizontally extendi'ng v sections.

.ing electrodes.

of construction.

ig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the precipitator shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical section of a portion of one of the collect- Fig. 4 is a horizontal section online 44 in Fig. 3. r

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section through'a sectional collecting electrode showing a modified means of en-- gagement between the re-enforcing and conducting meansin adjacent sections.

Fig. 6 is a partial longitudinal section through a collecting electrode comprising vertically extending sections.

. Figs. 7 and 8 are partial longitudinal sections through collecting electrodes built up of smaller sectional units in which the divisions'between sections extend both horizontally and vertically.

In the electrical precipitator shown in 1 Figs. 1 and 2 the precipitator chamber or tions and also for-effective distribution of housing indicated at 1 is provided with suitable inlet means 2 and outlet means 3 for passage of gas therethrough and with means at the bottom such as hopper 4L adapted to receive precipitated material and having any suitable means for removal of such material therefrom. The entire structure comprising housing 1, inlet and outlet means 2 and 3 and hopper 4, is shown as constructed of concrete, and while this is not essential, my invention is particularly adapted for. use in connection with this type .VVithin chamber I are provided a plurality of discharge electrodes 5 of relatively small cross-section, small surface. area, and sharp curvature, and collecting electrodes .6 having a relatively extended the collecting electrodes. ,It will of course 100 beunderstoodhowever that my invention is Such sections may :7 other suitable manner,

means 12 mounted on suitable insulating supports 13 in the usual manner of such apparatus. Suitable means, such as weights 14, may also be provided for tensioning the discharge wires and keeping them in alinement.

Each of the collecting electrodes 6 is shown as comprising a plurality of superposed horizontal plate sections 15mounted one above another so as to form a collecting plate of relatively extended surface and provided with suitable supporting and re-enforcing means as hereinafter described.

be made of Portland cement concrete, or other cement or plaster compositions, or terra cotta, transite, etc., or other semi-conducting material. If desired, the adjacent sections may be held in alinement at their adjoining edges by means of atongue and groove construction or many secure said sections together by means of a thoroughly and prevent exposure of the; re-enforcing members. The lowermost tions-of each collecting electrode preferably constitutes a supporting basesectio'n'as indicated at 16,'said base section being preferably provided with horizontal embedded reenforcing means indicated'at 17 so as to pro-- vide increased horizontal strength in such member and enable it to effectivelv support 7 the upper'sections. Said base section leis suitably supported for example by resting at its ends on the precipitator chamber or to require housing as indicated at 18. The horizontal sections 15 may be maintained in place and supported against lateral .movement by means of suitable side frames such as channel irons 20, said channel irons being mounted for example on beams or angle irons 21.

All of the materials above described, which I contemplate using 1n the construction of the collecting electrode sections, are such as re-enforcing or strengthening, and are also of such relatively .low electrical conductivity as to prevent efiective and uniform distribution of electrical potential to and I also prefer toone of said secall parts of an electrode of large size formed solely of such material. In order to provide for more effective support and re-enforcing of the collecting electrode means and also provide for proper distribution of electrical potential throughout said means, I therefore prefer to provide the horizontal sections 15 with metallic conducting and re-enforcing members extending parallel to the discharge wires and, spaced at suitable intervals throughout the length of each section. For this purpose I may in some cases provide alternate sections with vertical conducting and re-enforcing means 23 and 24 respectively, said means in the adjacent sectionsbeing in alinement with one another and adapted 'to engage one another so as to prevent relative lateral displacement of the sections. For example as shown in Figs. 1 to 3 the members 23 maycomprise metallic tubular members and the members 24 may commeans of adjacent sections. The effect of this construction is therefore such as to provide p when assembled substantially continuous reand conducting enforcingand conducting means extending.

,throu-ghout the more active portion of the collecting electrode. active portion is here understood to mean the portion of the electrode above the base section 16 or the collecting electrode which is provided with grounded embedded conducting members'," since the lack of grounded conducting members in the base section 16 will cause comparatively little electrical discharge be- 'The expression more in other words the portion of tween the discharge wires and said base section. The re-enforcing and conducting members 23 and 24 are embedded Within the con crete electrode sections 15 and are preferabl formed therein at the time of pouring such concrete sectionsin a similar manner to that in which re-enforced concrete structural members are commonlymade. It is highly desirable of course that said members be 10- cated centrally within the electrode sections so as to provide for the most effective re-enforcing and also provide uniform distribution of electrical potential to both faces of the electrode. I prefer in general to metallically ground all of the re-enforcing and conducting members 23 and 24, for example by connecting all of said members to a wire or other conducting member 27 which is grounded as indicated at 28. Said grounded wire 27 may be omitted in some cases, however, so that the re-enforcing and conductingmembers are not metallically grounded i but are grounded only through the concrete L housing 1. Said members serve in this case also, however, to preserve substantially uniform electrical potential throughout the plates. The horizontal re-enfor'cing member 17 in the lower or base section 16 is preferably not grounded, however, so that such high tension current, either alternating or direct, but preferably rectified alternating high tension current, the other side of which source is grounded. Said source of high tension current is preferably .adapted to maintain a potential difference between the discharge electrodes and the grounded collecting electrodes of from say 15000 to 100000 volts, the exact voltage required in any case depending upon the spacing of the electrodes and upon other conditions.

Instead of providing the alternate sections respectively with re-enforcing members adapted to engage one another I may provide similar re-enforcing means in all of the sections and provide suitable fastening or engaging means for connecting said reenforcing members together. For example as shown in Fig. eaclrof the sections may be provided with tubular re-enforcing members 23 so disposed as to be in alinement with one another when the plates are assembled, and suitable metallic pins or dowels may be provided, said dowels being adapted to enter within or engage the ends of two adjoining tubular members 23.

It will also be understood that the sections .15 may extend in a vertical direction instead of a horizontal direction for example as shown in Fig. 6, each collecting electrode may comprise a plurality of such vertically extending sections, each of said sections being provided with horizontally extending re-enforcing and conducting members 23 and 24 adapted to engage one another and constitute substantiall continuous metallic reenforcing and condxicting means in the same manner as above described. It will be noted that in this case the embedded conducting members extend horizontally and I therefore prefer to provide horizontally extendmg discharge wires 5 in this case, so as to preserve the parallel relation between the embedded re-enforcing and conducting members and the discharge electrode means. This is not necessary in all cases, however, since I may in some cases use vertical'discharge members together with horizontal embedded conductors or vice-versa.

As shown in Fig. 7 each collecting electrode may comprise a plurality of smaller sectionalunits 15, the divisions between such sectional units'extending both horizontally and vertically. Snchsectional units may in this case comprise concrete blocks or slabs of suitable size and s ape and may be laid up in any suitable manner for example as shown in the usual manner of laying up a brick wall. As in the other cases above described each of the sections 15 is provided with embedded re-enforcing and conducting members such as tubular members .23 and rods 24 adapted to engage one another and to form when assembled continuous metallic conducting and r'e-enforcing means extend ing throughout the height of the electrode in one direction. A similar construction is shown in Fig. 8. In this case however the embedded conducting members extend horizontally instead of vertically and therefore constitute continuous "re-enforcing and conducting members extending throughout the collecting electrode from side to side. It will be'seen that in any case each section of the collecting electrode is composed of semiconducting material'such as concrete and is provided with one or more metallic con ducting, and re-enforcing members, said members being adapted to engage one another for the purposes above mentioned, when the sections are assembled.

In operation the electrode system is energiz'edby connection to the source of high tension current as above described and by reason ofthe relatively small surface area and sharp curvature of the discharge electrodes and the relatively extended area of the collecting electrodesa' silent electrical dlscharge is produced from the discharge electrodes to the collecting electrodes. The metallicconducting members such as 23 and 24 cause substantially uniform distribution ofelectrical potential throughout the col-' lecting electrodes due to the fact that all parts of said electrodes are uniformly in contact with a system. In order to obtain the'maximum dIStIflblltlOIl'Of the electrical field due to the fact that each-portion of the surface of the:1

. 25 tor is at a max Q 6 m mb S fllfi collecting electrode which is in imity to an embedded con imum distance from the and vice versa. The elecl closest prox 'har .jlffie d grounded metallic conducting Such an ar-' rangement provides an, especially; effective uniformity of distribution of the electrical fore maintained with maximum uniformity over substantially the entire surface of the collecting electrode.

The gas to be treated is passed through the chamber 1 so as to flow between the discharge electrodes and the collecting electrodes. Under the action of the electrical field the suspended particles carried by the gas become charged and are attracted to the collecting electrodes. The material so precipitated eventually falls off the collecting electrodes by gravity and is collected at the bottom of the precipitator. If desired the collecting electrodes may be jarred or.

rapped from time to time to dislodge deposited material therefrom, but it has been found with semiconducting electrodes such as above described, the deposited material adheres to the collecting electrodes in a relatively loose manner and therefore falls ofi by its own weight before it becomes thick enough to seriously impair the effective operation of the precipitator.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. An apparatus for electrical precipitation of suspended material from gases containing the same comprising discharge electrode means and collecting electrode means, said discharge electrode means con'iprising members of relatively small cross-section extending parallel -to one another, and said collecting electrode means comprising a'plurality of plate sections of semi-conducting material, metallic re-enforcing and conducting members embedded in said semi-conducting material in each of said sections and extending parallel to saiddlscharge electrode means, and said conducting and re-.

enforcing members in adjacent sections enmembers embedded in each of said sections, said conducting and re-inforcing members in adjacent sections being in alinement and adapted to re-enforcing and conducting members for said collecting electrode.

4. A collecting electrode for electrical precipitators as set forth in claim 3, said conducting and re-enforcing members being in metallic connection with the ground.

5. A collecting electrode for electrical precipitators comprising a plurality of plate sections of semi-conducting material, metallic conducting and re-enforcing members embedded within eachof said sections, said conducting and ire-enforcing members in adjacent sections being adapted to engage one another at their ends in such manner as to prevent said sections and also provide electrical con nection between said sections.

In testimony"whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 19th day of March,

GHARLES H. WEISKQPF.

metallic conducting and re-enforcing engage one another at their ends I so as to constitute substantially continuous relative lateral displacement of 

